A Higher Love
by AkiraDawn
Summary: A lot has happened to Cloud and Tifa through the years. From family trials to successes. Job wins and job losses. Personal demons and self victories. It was time. It was time to make a move and it was time for a new chapter. Their family dynamic was changing. it was time to keep up. But more presently, it was time to party. CloudxTifa
1. Pool Rules

A Higher Love

_Without it, Life is Wasted Time._

"What do you think?" A woman's voice asked. Cloud could hear the flip and flop of his own shoes as he walked around.

"It's beautiful. Big...way bigger than what we have." He said.

"Oh my god! did you see the pool!?" Marlene exclaimed excitedly. Cloud smiled.

"Yeah, I saw it. How could I miss it? What of it?"

"Cloud, seriously...finally me and my friends will have some place cool to hang." Marlene rolled her eyes. He laughed at her. "I'm serious! We have no privacy ever!" Marlene argued.

"I like it that way." He teased her. One thing was certain, and that was that Cloud was a pro at irritating Marlene. She huffed and threw a hand in his face. He knew she wasn't serious and Marlene was used to Cloud egging her on. Cloud took a deep breath.

"Well, I gotta wait on the chief." He said looking at his watch. "She'll be here soon. In the meantime, do you mind if my son and I go look over the third garage again?" He asked the woman.

"Of course!" She encouraged. "Did you have a plan for it?"

"Oh yeah, we have bikes to work on!" Denzel told her. She laughed.

"He's serious, my wife is about to kill us over what we've done in the back alley behind our bar." Cloud told the woman. "Frankly, we have outgrown our apartment...truth was we outgrew it three years ago but we're in the drivers seat to make a move. My kids are already teenagers and I'm going to lose them before I have a chance to remember these years." He continued as he, Denzel and the realtor walked toward the third garage.

It was true, Marlene was now 15 and Denzel was 14. It was hard to believe that so much time had passed and that so much had been endured. Denzel was a team favorite in junior baseball, often playing second base. He was nearly taller than Cloud and solid muscle. Cloud owned three bikes now, one being Denzel's. He and Denzel were working on them or improving them all the time and it was time that Cloud cherished more than Denzel would ever know. The beloved Fenrir, holder of so many memorable rides, won best of show in the Midgar Regional Bike Expo the year before. It had been an enormous honor. Cloud and Denzel had worked for three months to get it show ready.

Marlene had become an integral part of Cloud and Tifa's most recent business endeavor: teaching mixed martial arts. Actually, Tifa operated the school, only hiring instructors who had been taught the way she learned s many years ago in Nibelheim. Enrollment had hit fifty students. Marlene had taken an interest in learning Tifa's trade and so Tifa put her with who she believed to teach in the most similar fashion that Tifa had learned. Marlene was doing well, but she had a long way to go. Barret Wallace was more than tickled when watching her in the classes. In his words she was "a little momma". Except Marlene wasn't little anymore, she was becoming a young woman. In fact, she had outgrown Tifa and finally grown in to her body. She was dedicated in her training to become the athlete that Tifa had always been. When Marlene wasn't training, Tifa spend time teaching her the ropes of business.

Cloud and Tifa had bought the 7th Heaven bar and the building in which it was located . The building itself was prime real estate. The delivery business was booming. In fact, it had merged and become Midgar Interior Express. Cloud oversaw the whole operation from a computer. It was amazing that the near demise of Midgar had turned his tiny, day-to-day business into a corporation.

They had indeed come a long way, complete dysfunction to solid ground all in the course of six years. And the driving force behind it all, had just walked in.

"Hey." Tifa acknowledged Marlene. "Hi, I'm Tifa, sorry I'm late. Did you get my text?" Tifa asked Marlene.

"Yeah, but Cloud is out in the garage with Denzel so I didn't tell him you were on your way. Did you see the pool!? Did you!? Did you see upstairs!? I could have like...a huge room." Marlene insisted with sparkling eyes.

"I know you could." Tifa said gazing out the windows over the pool. This had been the third time Cloud and Tifa looked at this house. A house in Midgar. It was a dream for many but only a few could actually afford it. The city taxes were outrageous…but knowing Cloud, he would figure out a way to write them off.

"Hey, you're here." Cloud said returning from the garage with Denzel.

"So, this is the chief, huh?" The realtor asked. Cloud smiled.

"This is her. She's been successfully running my life for years now. It works out well."

"We really like the house, of course I guess you know that since we've been here three times." Tifa told the realtor.

"What concerns do you have?" She asked.

"It's big." Cloud said, as he had remarked earlier. "What are we going to do with all this space?"

"Uh, breathe!" Both Tifa and Marlene said in near unison.

"We don't even own enough furniture to fill this place. I'm standing here looking at a pool and we own zero outdoor furniture. Our bedroom furniture and Marlene and Denzel's stuff would look horrible in here."

"It's only a three bedroom, which is what your apartment is now. The footage, however, is nearly triple your current. And may I suggest, since you have the money in your budget, I know of some names of good interior designers you could hire to help you out. You could make some minor changes and this home could reflect the four of you." The realtor explained.

Tifa looked at Cloud as he thought a moment. He shook his head. "I always knew having a wife would leave me consistently broke." He said. Tifa laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Imagine what an interior designer could do for you and Denzel's work space in the garage." She reminded him.

"I also hate it when she's right." Cloud told the realtor. Cloud looked at Tifa again, then to Marlene and Denzel. "Would you two be happy in a house like this?" Cloud asked of Marlene and Denzel.

"Dad, seriously, I would have my very own closet here! Not that stupid thing in the hallway at home!" Marlene insisted as her phone vibrated at her. Marlene had never referred to Cloud as dad until she could see it in his eyes that it was okay to do so. It wasn't until a year and a half previously, that she had done so. Even Denzel had done the same. It had transformed Cloud into a different man when they started doing so. Sure he had been a parent to them...but when that started he had a real good idea as to how fathers felt.

"There's a yard and everything." Denzel answered. "It's really peaceful on this street." Cloud shook his head. He looked at Tifa again who raised her eyebrows at him and shrugged her shoulders. Cloud knew this was her way of saying 'you know what I think so it's all on you now'. He shook his head again.

"Okay...let's make an offer." Cloud looked over to the realtor.

"Oh thank goodness!" Marlene said, leaning over on Tifa.

"Great! Why don't we go back to my office and we can draw up the necessary paperwork." The realtor assured them. "Oh, and may I ask do you have the name of a home inspector to complete an inspection report should the current owners accept your offer."

"Yeah, we have one in mind. But uh...will you be walking through the inspection with him?" Tifa asked a bit concerned.

"No, I'll only receive a completed report of his findings." The realtor said. "Would you prefer I be with him?"

"Not unless you're part sailor." Cloud said as the four of them walked back out to the driveway. A driveway…who would have ever thought that they would have some place aside from the back alley to park their cars and the bikes. The realtor had a peculiar look on her face.

"Our inspector has quite the mouth." Tifa clarified.

"I see. What's the name of the potential inspector?" she asked.

"Cid Highwind." Cloud answered.

Later that night, back at their apartment over 7th Heaven; it was discussed what should happen if the owners accepted the offer Cloud and Tifa had made.

"I hope those people accept. I can't wait to get out of here!" Marlene said.

"You'll miss this place if we move." Cloud told her.

"Um, no I won't. I hate sharing a bathroom with Denzel and our hallway is six inches wide!" Marlene said exaggerating.

"I'm going to have to kind of agree with her on that." Denzel said getting something to drink from the refrigerator and joining them around the couch.

"How much is an interior designer going to cost?" Cloud asked.

"Is that someone who you tell what you like and they like…decorate your house?" Denzel asked.

"That's exactly it and the cheapest one on this list the realtor gave us is 1500 gil. Apparently, they work by the job." Tifa said. Cloud clicked a pen above his head repeatedly as he thought.

"Not to mention the pieces we need to buy. Seriously, Marlene and Denzel have had the same bed since they were…what? Nine? We can't take this couch, it's way too small to fill up that main room." Cloud said.

"You put it in another room." Denzel observantly said.

"He's right." Tifa said.

"Okay…unless that interior decorating thinks our taste in furniture is a hot mess." Cloud said. "Hey, you two do realize if we buy this house we gotta be out of here in thirty days." Cloud said pointing his pen to Marlene and Denzel.

"I can have my stuff packed in thirty minutes." Marlene said not looking up from her tablet as she laid in the floor. "But if we move, I'm going to the mall to get a bikini for the pool."

"Oh, oh, oh…no. There is a very strict no bikini rule. Just because we are offering on a house with a pool does not mean there will be any of this two piece swimwear garbage. Sweat pants. You may wear sweat pants in the pool." Cloud warned her.

"You better think your rules through a little more carefully." Tifa said looking over all the particulars of the house on a printed out sheet. Cloud thought for a moment.

"Okay wait…no revealing swimwear for anyone under twenty-one." Cloud said amending his rule.

"Marlene, you have like 4 swimsuits." Denzel reminded her.

"Yeah, but they aren't cute." Marlene told him. Denzel just shook his head and continued searching Cloud's phone for a part they had been looking for to go onto Denzel's bike.

"Alright, we'll deal with all of Cloud's made up rules as he thinks of them." Tifa said sitting the print out aside and picking up a note pad.

"Hey, you just wait until you hear my list of rules for you." Cloud warned Tifa, clicking his pen in her face.

"And I am prepared to break every one of them." She answered not looking up from her notepad.

"That right there…is my kind of woman. She know she bad!" Cloud said before Tifa snatched his pen away.

"Here, I found it. 86 gil on this website." Denzel said handing Cloud's phone over to him.

"Seriously? You found it?" he said looking at the website Denzel had located. "That's not a bad price on that pipe head. Go get the credit card and order it. It says it could take up to eight weeks so if we buy this house we'll need to make sure mail forwarding is in place." Cloud told Denzel as Denzel walked over to the kitchen counter to get Cloud's wallet.

"Okay, we need to think. Are we going to try and sell this apartment or rent it?" Tifa asked.

"Well, the way I see it. If we rent it, we need to have the right renters. It could be a hassle. If we put it up for sale, I think our chances of selling out are extremely high. It's private from the bar. The noise doesn't trickle up here. There's no odor from the kitchen downstairs and above all, your head bartender is looking for a place." Cloud said.

"That's true." Tifa said. "Good points."

"Alright. Denzel are you ready to hit the gym?" Cloud asked him.

"Yeah, let me go get my shorts and stuff." Denzel said pulling himself up from the floor. Cloud followed him to get his own things together. Tifa watched him leave the room and diverted her attention to Marlene.

"Hey Marlene…" she began softly. "…we have some things to discuss." Marlene shook her head excitedly.

"Oh yeah we do…Cloud's 30th birthday!" she said just as softly.

"Go get the phone, we'll call Yuffie as soon as they leave." Tifa lipped to her, pointing to the phone.

Yes, the other major event was still a month away. This was the year Cloud would turn 30.


	2. Early Light

It was an early Saturday morning. It had been three days since Cloud and Tifa had made an offer on the beautiful Midgar property in which they had fallen in love. The window unit air conditioning had kicked on. It's gentle hum filled the room as Tifa slept.

Without warning Cloud awoke in a fit, sitting straight up in bed and gasping for air and panting. His heart was rapidly beating and sweat had formed all over him. It startled Tifa, who immediately woke beside him. "It's….it's happen…." Cloud panted an incoherent sentence.

"Shhhhh." Tifa reached her arms to Cloud and did her best to quiet him. She rubbed her hand up and down his back as she pulled him back down into their bed. Cloud continued to pant as he put his hand on his forehead, pushing his palm through his hair. Tifa watched him for a moment in the faint light before carefully getting up from her spot beside him. She continued to watch Cloud as she turned the bathroom light on and opened up a cabinet. Tifa pulled out what appeared to be some type of epipen device. She clicked it into place and walked back to Cloud. He was lying on his side and his breathing had returned mostly to normal. "Hold still." She whispered before sticking a needle into his arm. She quickly removed the device and waited there a moment before returning to the bathroom. Call it geostigma's last curse or remnants of post-traumatic stress, or call it whatever. The truth was that Cloud had been having off and on again panic attacks for a long time. He had learned to treat them, but they increased in length and frequency within the past couple years. This was the first one he had had in two months. Tifa then returned to the bathroom, and turned the light out before walking around the end of the bed listening to Cloud pant slower now. Once back into her spot, she reached out and pulled Cloud over beside her.

"You okay?" she finally asked, scratching his shoulder blades.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm okay…just…" he sighed and let his body sink into Tifa not really finishing his sentence. What she had stuck him with was a fast acting anti-anxiety drug prescribed to Cloud by his physician. It entered his blood stream much faster than the pills he had once taken. There was never any one particular trigger for these things. It seemed that they hit at random and mostly in Cloud's sleep. In that case, perhaps it wasn't a true panic attack of sorts but something else that doctors had yet to explain.

"Just try and go back to sleep. You'll be okay." Tifa whispered. Cloud didn't say anything. He knew she was right and he was already beginning to drift off again. Tifa could feel his heart beating against her, it's rhythm returning to normal. She knew that it was likely she wouldn't fall back asleep but once she could get Cloud settled, she knew she could slide out away from him, close the door and make a pot of coffee. Marlene and Denzel likely wouldn't be up for another hour or so. Tifa let her mind wander as she stared at the ceiling in the faint, faint pre-dawn light. These incidences had increased after the miscarriage. A lot of things changed right after that. It was the second time in Tifa's life that Cloud had almost walked out on her. Something…she wasn't certain what…but something had changed Cloud for good when that happened. He had become an entirely different person, in a positive way. Sure, he was still the same neurotic person she had known her entire life; but something changed Cloud two months after Tifa's hospitalization. Tifa wondered if it was Zack Fair or if it had been Aerith Gainsburough. Perhaps it had been the two of them, working in their on twisted fashion. Tifa smiled because she knew they would pull something like that. Whatever the case, Cloud had finally conquered his demons…it only took ten years.

Cloud was dead weight on Tifa now. He was calm and without movement. The downside to such short-lived incidences is that if left Cloud very tired. She knew he would sleep for a while. Tifa squirmed a bit, wiggling out from underneath Cloud's arm. She was only halfway out. She continued to pull her body across their bed until she had finally freed her leg. It would be a piece of cake now.

Once Tifa had herself dressed in whatever was on the floor beside their bed, she watched Cloud as she walked across their bedroom and closed the door behind her. Tifa walked out into the living room and pulled the curtains back from the window. She went into the kitchen. The little lamp in the corner of the stove area was still on from where they left it on each night so she turned it off. She always pre-measured the coffee the night before so it would brew faster the next morning. She turned the coffee pot on and waited for it to begin it's brew cycle as she returned to the now open living room windows. A typical Midgar weekend morning out there. The sun was just barely over the horizon. There was a delivery truck parked in front of a store on the opposite side of the street and a woman on a cell phone in front of an apartment. Tifa smiled. She had probably pulled an all-nighter and was coming in at an indecent hour. A flock of pigeons flew above the city rooftops. In the far distance was what was left of a life she had once known: the now defunct Shinra building. The massive thing had been sitting there rusting away for the past four years. It was becoming a Midgar eyesore…strange since it was once the prime real fixture of Midgar. It had been tied up in legal problems, which had slowed the dismantling process. Phase one of the deconstruction wasn't even set to begin for another five years. The way Tifa figured, the top portion of the building would probably fall over by then.

Tifa could hear the coffee pot beginning to drip and smell the aroma of the fresh grounds as it filled the living room. She continued gazing over the early morning Midgar wondering what had ever happened to the former Shinra employees. She wondered how Aerith would perceive this world as it now was. And then, her mind began to drift a bit. It was hard to imagine that Cloud would thirty years old a month. Thirty. Society had a million expectations for people that age. Cloud had somehow devised his own way of achieving all of them. Now, here he was, thirty and better than he had ever been. His mother would have been so proud of him and Tifa knew Elyria Strife would have loved Tifa so much. She wouldn't have missed her only baby's thirtieth birthday for the world. Tifa still smiled to herself knowing how fun it was to remind Cloud that he was a carbon copy of his mother…the male version of course. Her Nibilheim High School graduation picture had long since been tucked away in the hallway closet and in 1978 the then, unmarried Elyria, was certainly something to see. Cloud had also managed to get her disposition in a bit of a convoluted way. As for this party? Yuffie was putting this thing together and so far she had done a bang up job. The problem is that all the plans were in Yuffie's head and nothing had actually materialized yet….except for several bags of chips. Sure it was a month away and all, but Yuffie needed to let Cid and Shera know, especially when Cid would be coming into Midgar. She also needed to consult Tifa regarding particulars especially since this was a surprise party and Yuffie knew how much Cloud would hate her for surprises.

The first rays of sunlight broke through the sky, casting it's July glow onto the pavement. She turned away from the window and walked over to the coffee pot to get a cup. She didn't have long to herself until Marlene appeared, still looking a bit sleepy. "Hey." Tifa said sitting on the couch.

"Morning." She answered following in suit, getting a cup of coffee with Tifa. Cloud nearly had his intestines in a knot for weeks when Marlene first asked for a cup of coffee. He kept it mostly to himself, but seeing Marlene grow up was not easy on him. Although, he still thoroughly enjoyed peoples' reactions when he would tell them he had a fifteen year old. Naturally, the look on their faces would say "You had a kid when you were 15?" "Where's Cloud?" she asked.

"He had another…thing early. He's still asleep." Tifa told her.

"Oh." Was Marlene's answer before coming over to the couch with Tifa. "Why doesn't Denzel have those?" she wondered. It was an outstanding question. Tifa shook her head.

"Doctor's have no idea why Cloud has them and Denzel doesn't." she told Marlene.

"I guess they aren't completely related to geostigma maybe?" Marlene deduced.

"Probable not. Cloud still has remnants of Mako in his body. That may have some kind of influence over why he's affected and not Denzel. Marlene shook her head. She turned the TV on and Tifa reached for one of her magazines. Neither of them said anything for a while. It was a slow morning at home. But it was nice.

My apologies for this short chapter, the next one will be longer. I kind of intended this to be a short chapter.


	3. Buy a House, Get Forks

"Damn Cloudy." Cid looked above him and whipped out his tape measure. "Here hold this end." Cid walked the tape measure across the room. It was strange that every time he appeared Cid was clad in pants that looked like they hadn't been washed in days and a shirt that consistently had paint splatters on it. Did he constantly paint crap around his house? Or was this simply his 'go to' outfit? "Looks like about fifty-five feet. Nice size room…nice house…real nice house. You gonna get Tifa all slicked up in that pool then have your way with 'er?" Cid asked.

"No. Come on. We need to measure the kitchen." Cloud insisted. The realtor had informed Cloud and Tifa that the owners had accepted their offer on the house. Now it was up to Cid to turn in an inspection report to the realtor so the deal could be closed. The Strife's would move to the upper Midgar Edge…away from downtown, away from the traffic and hustle…away from the life they had known for so long. Cid laughed. "Awww, I'm just messin' with ya' Cloudy, just messin' with ya'. I see a pool out there. Do you know how to care for a pool?" Cid asked.

"Not at all. I got this magazine that claims to teach me pool maintenance in three hours or less." Cloud said semi-seriously.

"I'm impressed…not with your three hour tutorial…with this house. Damn. It's gorgeous. Can't believe you two bought this fuckin' thing." Cid said as they finished their measurements. "Let's go do the entryway and the rooms off the entry."

"But what about the actual inspection? I've been taking measurements with you for a half hour." Cloud reminded him.

"This place is going to check out well. I've only seen a few things that have caught my attention. The folks have certainly taken care of the place." Cid assured him. "Come on, let's head upstairs." Cid said letting the tape measure slap itself shut as he jammed it back in his pocket. Cloud led him up the stairway that was off the kitchen and living room. "Damn, this overlooks all that below. Nice." Cid commented as Cloud led him down the upstairs hallway. It was so much wider than what he was used to.

"This is the master suite." Cloud said opening up a set of double doors.

"Holy fucking…mother of….shit cloud this is a fuckin' house within itself. Oh my god a walk in closet…you're shittin' me….that's…that's a full deck off this mother fucker." Cid said completely overwhelmed.

"it is Cid….it is. And you seriously thought I had plans to wreck Tifa after getting her out of the pool?" Cloud asked him with a smirk on his face as he opened their bathroom door revealing the whirpool spa bath and many more features that Tifa had only dreamed about for her dream bathroom.

"I stand corrected Cloudy. This is….this is like the size of my first apartment! Shit! It's…I'm proud of ya. What the hell are you gonna put in here? Your bedroom furniture is too small." Cid asked getting his measuring tape out again.

"Tifa is sitting at home with an interior designer right now dropping big bucks on god only knows what." Cloud said.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! You and Tifa are makin' good ass money. She let's you spend on whatever the hell you want and you let her do the same. There's couples in Midgar ten years your senior that wish to god they were makin' what you two make. You got it all Cloud, you do."

"I know, Cid. I'm a lucky guy. Yeah, I don't care what Tifa spends money on; I really don't. She never makes bad financial choices." Cloud said as they measured from wall to wall.

"Let's get these window measurements above this tub." Cid said. "My god, heated floors in here! Cloud….one things certain…I was wrong about the pool idea."

"You know, I'm going to be thirty very soon. And you know what that means, right?" Cloud asked him.

"It means I've known you for nine years." Cid said.

"Yeah, but it also means it's gonna get pretty nasty between the sheets of the bed Tifa and I don't own yet." Cloud said.

"Hey, you watch your mouth son." Cid said laughing.

"I can make it worse." Cloud said stepping down from the back edging of the tub and leaning over toward Cid. He whispered something to him as if someone were listening.

"Holy….damn! Cloud! Who taught you to talk like that!?" Cid insisted.

"Zack Fair." Cloud said without missing a beat. Cid laughed.

"Mercy. You obviously know Tifa better than I do. Let me know how that goes because believe me what I'm picturin' probably isn't how it will happen."

"Tifa's a wild one sometimes Cid." Cloud assured him. Cid snapped his tape measure shut as he inspected the corners of the bathroom.

"I wanna ask you somethin' I've never asked you in the whole damn time I've known you." Cid began as he ran his hands over an area and pulled a level out of his back pocket. "I know that you and Tifa spent some of the night lyin' underneath the _Highwind_ all those years ago when we were savin' the world from Shinra an' shit. Did you fuck her that night?"

"You talk about my mouth!" Cloud smiled all over and laughed at Cid. "Oooooh Cid." He laughed again.

"What the hell kinda' mother fuckin' answer is that?! You did didn't you?!" Cid insisted as he turned out the bathroom light and they proceeded to the bedrooms at the opposite of the hallway.

"How do you think Tifa became such a sensual lover?" Cloud winked at him.

"I hate you! You are so full a' shit." Cid said shaking his head. "Did you or didn't you? You were twenty-one years old and had to be horny as hell. Tifa's never been hard to look at and you had always secretly adored her." Cid pumped him. Cloud laughed again as they entered what would soon become Marlene's room.

"You'll never know for sure Cid, you'll never know for sure." Cloud said.

"CLOUD!" Cid scolded him. That only made Cloud grin more stupidly.

"Alright, alright. We did some stuff but not what you think. Me and Tifa were still young and inexperienced." Cloud said opening up the closet. Cid shook his head.

"Dumbass…by the way…what are you doing with that third garage out there?"

"That's going to be a bike storage and work area." Cloud explained. "Denzel and I are going to work on making it bike ready after we move in. We have the diamond plate picked out as well as a couple of tool boxes we are going to put in there. We also need to choose and order a tire rack. We're gonna leave the floor cement since there is a drain and hose hookup in there." Cloud elaborated.

"Sounds like you got a plan, Cloudy." Cid said as they finished the upstairs. It was time to go outside. They headed back down the stairs and toward the front door to examine the front façade of the house. Cloud closed the front door as Cid examined the front stoop area. "This is some nice landscaping out here. Sits back from the road far enough. Damn look at that front door. Cid said looking above him. "You could get a stone out here toward the edge of this mulch with the house number." He suggested.

"Yeah, we could do that." Cloud said. "As long as it isn't too big."

"Everything about this house is big! You need a big stone Cloud. Ya' know…you should have the house number and Strife underneath it." Cid further suggested.

"Are you serious?" Cloud asked with a bit of skepticism.

"You should…you got it all Cloud. When people drive by this place they need to know that this is a fuckin' great home and that you and Tifa…well mainly Tifa…built it." Cid said. Cloud laughed.

"Yeah…yeah, Cid…Tifa's the rock." He shook his head. "Alright, we can do that out here.

"Me an' Shera have a three bedroom cottage in Rocket Town…you know that…you've been there. But you know what? Our name is on the mailbox because we are damn proud of it. You need to do the same Cloudy. Be proud a' what you and Tifa got. Nobody wakes up and buys a place like this. Now I know you and Tifa haven't been married for years like some couples but you made the most of the years you got….and now you got a down payment on this bitch." Cid reminded him.

"Do you realize what the bar alcohol license is worth? Cid if we sold it…" Cloud shook his head.

"If it's worth half as much as your business I'll bet you all are setting on some cold hard cash." Cid said.

"425,000." Cloud said "All because of the location." He said.

"Shit, Cloud." Cid said as they left the front of the house and walked around the side toward the extra garage. "Tell me somethin' Cloud. Does Tifa work on these bikes a' yours too? Or is this something that you and Denzel are gonna do? Is she ever in the garage with ya'?" Cloud smiled.

"Cid…let me tell you something…Oh, let me tell ya'...I'll never forget this..." Cloud began as he and Cid walked across the driveway to the third detached garage. "Tifa and I were working on Denzel's bike about a year ago. It was raining like crazy and she had been underneath the bike with a wrench tightening some bolts. I had some grease on me but she had been doing most of the dirty work." Cloud put the garage door up with the automatic receiver. Cid laughed.

"Imagine that. Your wife doing the dirty work!" Cloud laughed at him.

"Shut up, this story is hot! Okay, so Tifa gets up from the floor and she's got oil and grease on her jeans, on her shirt, a few streaks on her arms, and she had a blotch on her stomach where she had rubbed up against something. So, she stands up and steps back from the bike to take a look. At this point, she is turning me on like you have no idea. There is nothing sexier than Tifa on or under or over the bikes. So, I'm just watching her...mentally drooling and thinking of what I could do to her. Well, she steps back and says 'I need the drill to get those in tighter'. At that point I walk over to her, put my hands on her hips and push her back against the wall beside the steel grates that enclose that space. I get real close to her, kiss her neck, and unbutton her jeans.

"Whoa...whoa...I know that space between the bar building and the next one. Someone coulda' seen you do that! That back alley has an adequate amount of traffic through it, not to mention all the traffic out front facing the street!" Cid said.

"Well, the steel grates facing the street were closed but the back side facing the alley was open. Anyway, I'm kissing her neck and Tifa pulls me into her by the belt loops on my pants and says 'you need to get me the drill'. I say to her 'the drill can wait but this can't. I run my fingers along the edge of her panties and I feel her move her hands tighter around my waist. She let's her neck fall into me so I know she's all for doing this right here in the garage. But, as undeniably sexy as she already was, she whispers…you grease me up worse than the bikes."

"Daaaaaaamn Cloud! I guess Tifa works on more than bikes when she's up in_ your _garage. God, someone coulda' seen you so easy." Cid said. Cloud laughed stupidly.

"Hey, that was a seriously hot afternoon. I was in and out of her pants in less than four minutes and it left Tifa flushed in the cheeks and a little breathless." Cloud said. "So to answer your question…yes. Tifa works on the bikes. She knows what she's doing too."

"Hell, obviously." Cid said. "Alright, let me take a look in here and we can finish this little project."

Back home, Tifa, Marlene and Denzel had finished up with the interior designer for the day and were preparing to pack up a few of the first boxes that would go to storage until the previous owners vacated the house. Tifa was on the phone to Yuffie. "Yeah, about the venue for this party….we just found out that our offer was accepted on the house so it looks like we'll be…" Tifa stopped mid-sentence and held the phone away from her year as Yuffie screamed on the other end. Shw waited until Yuffie had her moment. "Yes, Yuffie. We got the house. Needless to say, we'll be having Cloud's party poolside."

"YOU BOUGHT A HOUSE WITH A POOL!?" Marlene laughed as she heard Yuffie screaming into the phone again. With that, Tifa knew that there would be a Yuffie in their pool for as long as it was open.

"Can you please talk to me about this party? We have thirty days to close on this house, get this apartment on the market and this party has to kept secret from Cloud!" Tifa reminded her. Yuffie talked endlessly and a bit incoherently for a moment. "Yuf….please…focus. you have like….what? Nineteen bags of chips for this thing and nothing else?" Tifa reminded her.

"Tifa! Don't worry! We won't run out of chips!" Yuffie assured her.

"That's my point, Yuffie….you have chips for Cloud's birthday….that's it!"

"Oh…." Yuffie finally said as this fact dawned on her. "Okay…I'm going to need to get some plastic forks as well…" Tifa sighed.

"You know what, let me give you a list. Marlene and I will bring it to you next week at some point. It will have Cloud's favorite things on it "Just… N….no Yuffie….forget the plastic forks! Okay, I will talk to you later. Because we need to pack and I'm staring at Denzel right now…he has so clothes overflowing from his arms. Bye Yuffie."

"Wait! Wait! Tifa! Should I bring a beach towel for the pool!?" Yuffie yelled.

"Bye, Yuffie." Tifa hung up the phone and sighed.

"I think we're going to need more boxes." Denzel said dropping everything into a pile in the floor.

"Talk to your dad about that. He'll come in here and insist we can do this whole operation in three." Tifa said rolling her eyes.

"No, we have furniture to move. He'll know how to get this done." Leave it to Denzel to always defend Cloud. Marlene looked at Tifa and shook her head.


End file.
